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What Our Visitors Say

I have organized several group tours…and everyone was impressed with the knowledge and enthusiasm of the docents who have such a command of the exhibition.

— Marie Harrington, Scarsdale NY

The New-York Historical Society is one of my favorite museums because it is large enough to have a magnificent collection and splendid exhibits but small enough to offer an intimate experience for visitors

A good starting point for your visit to New York. It will help you understand the people and history of this amazing city.

— Phyllis Epstein, New York, NY

When I talk to friends, I explain the New-York Historical Society's appeal to me by a simple phrase: "I never walk through the doors of the Society and not learn something." What better reason to visit?

— Jim Picinich, New York, NY

No trip to manhattan can be without visiting here. One of the greatest museums in the city!

— Mateo C. Oakland Gardens, NY

I always enjoy visiting the New-York Historical Society. Their permanent collection has Tiffany, Audubon and the Hudson River School painters. Their special shows are also fabulous and diversified.

Special Exhibition Tours

Contemporary artist Betye Saar has shaped the development of assemblage art in the United States, particularly as a device to illuminate social and political concerns. A key figure in the Black Arts Movement and the feminist art movement of the 1960-70s, Saar’s distinct vision harmonizes the personal and the political. Docent-led tours will explore one facet of Saar’s work—washboards—created between 1997 and 2017. Object Highlights include Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines, A Call to Arms and National Racism: We Was Mostly ‘Bout Survival. Discover the washboard as a symbol of the unresolved legacy of slavery and the subsequent oppressive systems facing Black Americans today, particularly Black women.

For centuries, the Hudson River and its environs have provided habitat for both humans and hundreds of species of fish, birds, and plants. Writers and artists have captured the Hudson in paintings, drawings, stories, and photographs, while surveyors and scientists have mapped and measured its every parcel. Discover two centuries of ecological change, artistic imagination, and environmental thinking along what one writer called, “the most interesting river in America.”

Artist Augusta Savage (1892–1962) overcame poverty, racism, and sexual discrimination to become one of America’s most influential 20th-century artists. Her sculptures celebrate African American culture, and her work as an arts educator, activist, and Harlem Renaissance leader catalyzed social change. Experience an in-depth exploration of Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman on a docent-led tour.

Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and the dawn of the gay liberation movement on a special docent-led tour of two exhibitions—Letting Loose and Fighting Back: LGBTQ Nightlife Before and After Stonewall and By the Force of Our Presence: Highlights from the Lesbian Herstory Archives.

Tours will explore the ways in which nightlife—though subjected to policing, unfavorable public policies, and Mafia control—has been critical to finding identity, building community, and developing political awareness. Plus, examine lesbian and queer women lives pre- and post-Stonewall, particularly in institution-building within the LGBTQ movement.

For the editors of LIFE—the first magazine to tell stories with photographs rather than text—the camera was not merely a reporter, but also a potent commentator with the power to frame news and events for a popular audience. For decades, Americans saw the world through the lens of the magazine’s photographers. Yet between the 1930s and the early 1970s, LIFE kept only six women photographers on staff. Discover the extraordinary work created by those six staff

Permanent Exhibition Tours

Unlock the secret history of the city in a whirlwind romp through the Museum! The hunt leads you along a trail of quirky clues and challenges you to answer fun, funny questions about the Museum’s countless artifacts. Your team will follow a trail of clues through the Luce Center and the new Center for Women’s History, plus an array of special exhibits. No knowledge of the museum or New York history required: you just need sharp eyes and comfy shoes. This exciting 45-minute game will show you the New-York Historical Society in surprising new ways!

For more than 200 years, the New-York Historical Society has been preserving and exhibiting artwork. Dive into the stories of many illustrious artworks on our docent-led gallery tour. Learn about some of the most renowned works in our collection, ranging in date from the 14th through the 21st centuries, including Thomas Cole's iconic "Course of Empire" series and Charles Willson Peale's Peale Family Portrait. Plus, marvel at Picasso’s magnificent Le Tricorne ballet curtain, the largest piece on view in the United States by the Spanish artist.

Explore our world-renowned permanent collection on our one-of-a-kind highlights tour. Our specially trained guides lead you through the Smith Gallery, showcasing New York’s central role in the creation of the United States. The tour continues on the second floor where a selection of our more than 40,000 historic objects tells the story of Gotham, from its early days as a Dutch colony to the cosmopolitan metropolis of today.

Despite enormous obstacles, women across the spectrum of race and class exercised power and effected change even before they could access the ballot box. Discover the untold stories of women whose contributions to American culture, politics, and society altered the course of history.

Experience our collection of Tiffany lamps—one of the world’s largest and most encyclopedic—in a dazzling new two-story gallery. See more than 100 examples of this elegant American art form and hear the personal stories of head designer Clara Driscoll and her team in the Glassmaking Department known as the “Tiffany Girls,” whose contributions were nearly lost to history.

New York’s unique entrepreneurial spirit has inspired objects that stand alone in design and functionality. Hear the dynamic stories of American history as told through extraordinary and everyday objects from our collection. Discover what makes New York the capital of creativity!

The forgotten, often perplexing histories of the United States can be told through artifacts left behind. Since 1804, the New-York Historical Society has been preserving and exhibiting objects that tell captivating stories. History uncovered on this tour will include the 19th-century fascination with phrenology, or skull-reading; the lost art of cigar ribbon manufacturing; and the 1863 draft lottery that sparked the deadliest civil disturbance in our nation’s history.

How can the past inform our present? Discover the New York of yesterday and today through artifacts and works of art from our collection, excavated from city streets and donated by illustrious New Yorkers. Select the century in New York history that most interests you and we’ll tailor a tour to fit!

1600–1700: Before the city was New York, it was New Amsterdam—a remote New World trading outpost in a global Dutch empire. After coming under British rule in 1664, New York retained its diverse, multilingual population and entrepreneurial spirit, remaining a city that existed first and foremost as a financial and trading center.

1700–1800: Under British occupation from 1776 to 1783, New York—a hotbed of contention between Patriots and Loyalists—felt the effects of nearby battles. After the Revolution, New Yorkers witnessed Washington’s inauguration and the city became the first U.S. capital. During this period, one in five New Yorkers lived in bondage.

1800–1900: Fueled by immigration and innovations like the Erie Canal and Brooklyn Bridge, New York grew from a port city concentrated in lower Manhattan to a unified metropolis. During and after the Civil War, New York politics became increasingly contentious. As the 19th century came to a close, the Progressive Movement emerged in response to the excesses of Tammany Hall and the Gilded Age.

1900–2000: During the tumult of the 20th century’s traumatic world wars, ordinary New Yorkers contributed to the war effort. Following World War II, New York emerged on the international stage as a global capital with a unique identity, and its landmarks became recognizable worldwide as New York culture was captured in song, on stage, and on film.